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Neural circuits for a top-down control of fear and extinction

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Abstract

Fear learning and extinction are controlled by the activity of three interconnected regions: the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex. Of these, the medial prefrontal cortex modulates specific aspects in fear and extinction via a top-down regulation. In recent years, extensive progress has been made in our understanding of the neural circuits that mediate fear-related behaviors and their modulation by ascending systems. The development of new experimental techniques is now revealing the details of the intrinsic circuits within these structures as well as the connections between them. Here, we highlight recent advances in our understanding of how the prefrontal cortex may mediate such a top-down regulation.

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Funding

This work was supported by grants from the Australian Research Council (CE140100007) and National Health and Medical Research Council to P.S.

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  1. Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia

    Roger Marek, Yajie Sun & Pankaj Sah

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  1. Roger Marek
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  2. Yajie Sun
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  3. Pankaj Sah
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Correspondence to Pankaj Sah.

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This article belongs to a Special Issue on Psychopharmacology of Extinction

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Marek, R., Sun, Y. & Sah, P. Neural circuits for a top-down control of fear and extinction. Psychopharmacology 236, 313–320 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-018-5033-2

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